Posted by Bennie Sue (165.121.236.245) on March 28, 2001 at 12:46:33:
There will never be a CH.com with the same flavor as the first one that emerged with only a few members. It was truly a very small "family."
I am not one of this original group, but I have heard stories of how the people travelled many miles to visit their friends in other states and how their on-the-spot intervention saved the sanity and possibly the lives of some in need. Naturally, these original members feel nostalgic about the closeness they shared.
Unfortunately, some really grand posters have left us. I miss their contributions. But many have stayed and are offering their best efforts for the benfit of fellow clusterheads.
There have been many changes to the "feel" of the MB in the time I have been here. There have been troublemakers who tried to disrupt us for their own perverted reasons. But despite that sort of thing I see here now the most supportive, loving, giving, sharing group ever. If you just skip over a couple of posts by known troublemakers (and they are quite easy to recognize) you will find messages with valuable content. You will find extensive welcomes to new visitors. You will find sharing of concerns by many, many supporters - especially those with children who are perhaps the most in need of advice and of a chance to vent their frustration at the demon.
And as a tremendous plus I see people not only *talking* but *working* to help their fellow sufferers. Look how people are now taking on committee work and how many people are actively serving on committees - gathering information to disburse where needed and coordinating their efforts to educate doctors, etc.
And people are actively thinking - making suggestions for projects to serve OUCH goals. Ideas are treasures to be taken seriously and implemented where possible. I feel a pulse of excitement about OUCH that was not evident to me before. Things are moving along, and the newer members who have joined us are sincere and dedicated. They are posting with wisdom and reason and love.
So many people have helped me. I get mail and books and videos and bumper stickers, and cute stuffed chickens. And yesterday I was honored by a telephone call from Riccardo - all the way from Italy. This was my first transatlantic telephone call. It was very thrilling. I could understand Riccardo's very excellent speech. My southern English might have been a little difficult for him. But we exchanged information and greetings as if we lived next door. I treasure that experience.
If we have complaints about the negative posts on the board, we only need to ignore those. If Mr.X posts hate messages every five minutes I do not care because I do not read them. I do get aggravated when people egg him on by arguing with him. It is an argument they will never win - so why not let it go? Newcomers will catch on to the situation if there are no responses to these hateful or disruptive posts.
I always liked the expression "make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold." I think we can apply that to the MB and our OUCH friends.